The
May 16, 2012 auction of American Paintings at Christie's New York is
highlighted by a great painting by Oscar Bluemner, a great pastel by
Georgia O'Keeffe, a stunning Venetian boating scene by Robert Frederick
Blum, a very fine hummingbird picture by Martin J. Heade, a great genre
painting by Jerome Thompson, two very good Impressionist paintings by
Childe Hassam, and a good landscape by George Inness.

Lot
11,"Perth Amboy West (Tottenville), is a marvelous and very striking
oil on canvas by Oscar Bluemner (1967-1938). It measures 21
1/4
by 30 inches and was painted in 1911 and 1916-7. It has an
estimate of $2,000,000 to $3,000,000. It failed to sell.

The auction sold 77 of 100 offered lots for $27,198,600.

Lot
10, "Lake George in Woods," by Georgia O'Keeffe, pastel on paper laid
down on paperboard, 17 by 14 1/4 inches, 1922

Lot
10 is an excellent and very lovely pastel on paper laid down on
paperboard by Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986). Entitled "Lake
George
in Woods," it measures 17 by 14 1/4 inches and was executed in 1922.
It has an estimate of $300,000 to $500,000. It sold for $902,500.

Another O'Keeffe
is Lot 13, "Deer Horns," an oil on canvas that measures 36 by 16
inches. It is the back-cover illustration of the catalogue.
It was painted in 1938 and has an estimate of $1,200,000 to
$1,800,000. It
sold for $1,930,500, to Baird W. Ryan, a private dealer.

Lot 38 is a very
beautiful and dramatic oil on canvas of "Venetian Gondoliers" by Robert
Frederick Blum (1857-1903). It measures 18 1/4 by 28 1/2
inches and was painted circa 1880-1889. It has an estimate of
$500,000 to $700,000. It
sold for $1,142,500.

The cover
illustration of the auction's catalogue is Lot 39, "La Fruitiere," a
very beautiful, small oil on board by Childe Hassam (1859-1935).
It measures 14 by 10 inches and was painted circa 1887-9.
It was exhibited in the retrospective on the artist at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2004. It has an estimate of
$800,000 to $1,200,000. It
sold for $842,500.

Another
excellent work by Hassam is Lot 33, "The Smelt Fishers, Cos
Cob, Connecticut."
An oil on canvas that measures 22 by 18 inches, it was
painted in 1896. It has an estimate of $200,000 to $300,000. It sold for $194,500.

Lot 35 is a
lovely oil on canvas by Guy Carleton Wiggins (1883-1962).
Entitled "On Potter's Wharf," it measures 25 by 30 inches and
was painted in 1912. The wharf is in Noank, Connecticut, near
Old Lyme. The lot has an estimate of $40,000 to $60,000. It sold for $92,500.

Lot 37 is a very
striking composition by Guy Rose (1867-1925) that is titled "Tamarisk
Trees, Southern France." An oil on canvas, it measures 23 1/2
by 28 1/4 inches. The catalogue noted that Guy Rose "is
revered as one of the most important American Impressionists of the
turn of the 19th Century and is arguably the most significant
California painter who worked in the plein-air tradition."
The lot has an estimate of $250,000 to $350,000. It sold for $458,500.

Lot 42 is a
small and sweet painting of "Sara Holding a Cat" by Mary Cassatt
(1844-1926). An oil on canvas, it measures 16 1/2 by 13 inches and was
painted circa 1907-8. It has an estimate of $800,000 to
$1,200,000. It
sold for $2,546,500.

Lot 43 is a
lovely oil on canvas by Maurice Prendergast (1859-1924) that is
entitled "By the Sea." It measures18 1/4 by 13 1/4 inches and
was painted circa 1918-1923. It is property from the Robert
Brady Museum Foundation. Mr. Brady, who died in 1986, moved
to Mexico in 1959 and bought a 16th Century Franciscan monastery in
Cuernavac-Casa de la Torre that he converted into a smuseum with 1,300
objects he had collected including important works by Kahlo, Rivera,
Tamayo, Prendergast and Hartley. The catalaogue motes that
this lot is the left portion of a once large paintingthat was divided
in half, possibly by the artist adding that the separation was
completed during his lifetime, or by another hand shortly thereafter.
The right half, "Edge of the Wooods," is in the collection of
the Blanden Memorial Art Museum in Fort Dodge, Iowa. The
lot has a modest estimate of $150,000 to $250,000. It sold
for $146,500.

Lot 44 is a
lovely oil on canvas by Frederick Carl Frieseke (1874-1979) entitled
"Foxgloves." It measures 26 by 32 inches and was painted
circa 1912-3. It has an estimate of $1,000,000 to $1,500,000. It sold for $2,210,400.

Lot
25, "Hummingbird and Two Types of Orchids," by Martin J. Heade, oil on
canvas, 22 by 14 inches

Lot 25 is a
classic hummingbird and orchid picture by Martin J. Heade (1819-1904).
It is an oil on canvas and measures 22 by 14 inches.
It has a modest estimate of $600,000 to $800,000. It sold for $818,500.

Lot
89, "Home in the West," by Jerome Thompson, oil on canvas tacked over
panel, 23 by 36 inches, 1864

Lot 89 is a
masterpiece by Jerome Thompson (1814-1886) entitled "Home in the West."
An oil on canvas tacked over panel, it measures 23 by 36
inches and is dated 1864. It was exhibited in 1865 at the
National Academy of Design in New York. It has a very modest
estimate of $30,000 to $50,000. It
failed to sell.

Lot 28 is an
excellent and large work by George Inness (1825-1894).
Entitled "Tenafly, Autumn," it measures 30 1/4 by 45 1/8
inches and was painted in 1891. It has a very modest estimate of
$100,000 to $150,000. It
sold for $158,500.When it was offered at Christie's New York
December4, 2008, it had
a modest estimate of $500,000 to $700,000. It has been consigned
then by the Corcoran Gallery of Art and had been given to it by Senator
William A. Clark of New York. It failed to sell then.

Lot 26 is a
lovely scene of "Gloucester, Stage Fort Beach" by Fitz Hugh Lane
(1804-1865). An oil on canvas, it measures 24 by 36 1/4
inches and was painted in 1849. It has been widely published
and the catalogue notes that it "is one of Fitz Henry Lane's earliest
forays in the luminous idiom, characterized by an emphasis on openness,
clarity and sense of preternatural calm." The artist was
widely known for many years as Fitz Hugh Lane. It has an
estimate of $2,000,000 to $3,000,000. It failed to sell.

Lot 24 is an
excellent "River Scene, Ecuador" by Louis Remy Mignot (1831-1870).
An oil on board, it measures 11 1/4 by 18 inches and is dated
1857 It has an estimate of $100,000 to $150,000. It sold for $422,500.

Lot 23 is a fine
small oil on board by Francis Augustus Silva (1835-1886) entitled "Old
Wreck Near Newport, Rhode Island." It measures 6 by 12 1/2
inches and was painted circa 1872. It has an estimate of
$70,000 to $100,000. It
failed to sell.

Lot
92, "Coast of Labrador," by William Bradford, oil on canvas tacked on
panel, 24 1/4 by 40 1/4 inches

Lot 92, "Coast
of Labrador," is an oil on canvas tacked on panel by William Bradford
(1823-1892). It measures 24 1/4 by 40 1/4 inches and has an
estimate of $80,000 to $120,000. It
failed to sell.

Lot 27 is a
small oil on paper sketch of "View of Kaaterskill Clove, New York," by
Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900). It measures 8 1/4 by 11
1/2 inches and is dated 1867, It has an estimate of $50,000
to $70,000. It
failed to sell.

Lot 85 is a
lovely oil on canvas by Herman Herzog (1831-1932) entitled "Twilight."
It measures 22 by 36 inches and is dated 1876.
Herzog came to America in 1869 and was a very prolific and
competent landscape artist who won a bronze medal at the Centennial
Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876. The lot has an estimate
of $80,000 to $120,000. It
failed to sell.

Lot 95,
"Norwegian Landscape," by Herzog is an oil on canvas that measures 33
by 49 1/4 inches and was painted in 1857. It is property from
the collection of Henry Luce III, thence by descent to the consignors.
It has an estimate of $70,000 to $100,000. It sold for $56,250.

Lot
84, "Hunters Escaping from a Wounded Buffalo, While He Tears Their
Clothes to Pieces," by Alfred Jacob Miller, pen and ink and wash on
paper, 6 1/2 by 9 1/2 inches, 1837

Lot 84 is an
excellent pen andink and wash on paper by Alfred Jacob Miller
(1810-1874) entitled "Hunters Escaping from a Wounded Buffalo, While He
Tears Their Clothes to Pieces." It measures 6 1/2 by 9 1/2
inches and was executed in 1837. It has a modest estimate of
$40,000 to $60,000. It
sold for $110,500.

Lot 67 is a
superb painting by Morris Hirschfield, one of America's best primitive
artists. Entitled "Cats in the Snow," it is an oil on canvas
that measures 26 by 34 inches and was painted in 1945. It was
exhibited at the Sidney Janis Gallery in 1946. It has
a modest estimate of $100,000 to $150,000. It sold for $290,500.

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